Time Confusion
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: The clock in Severus Snape's office shows '1:88', but the Potions Master doesn't even find it strange. Set in Harry's first Hogwarts year. Completely AU, sick!Severus, partly OOC due to his illness. Just a little drabble about Fluffy...


**Time Confusion**

**~ by Healer Pomfrey ~  
**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

Severus Snape sat at his desk, grading the first year Gryffindors' and Slytherins' homework. '_Longbottom is even more of a dunderhead than Potter_,' he scoffed inwardly as he pointed out the boy's mistakes in his accurate handwriting, flooding the parchment with red ink. '_Granger is an insufferable know-it-all_,' he thought in disgust as he eyed the long parchment that was full with the girl's neat handwriting. '_If she at least used her own words!_' Not able to find any mistakes in the girl's essay, he grudgingly scribbled an "O" on top of the parchment along with a small comment, stating, '_Use your own words_.'

Suddenly, the word 'your' became alive. While the 'u' nastily put its tongue out to him, the 'o' and 'r' began to make funny faces.

'_Must be my imagination_,' Severus decided and quickly placed the parchment on the pile with the finished essays.

'_Weasley_,' Severus thought in disgust as he skimmed the redhead's meagre work in his atrocious handwriting. "That boy is too stupid and lazy for his own good. He didn't understand the process at all," he muttered in exasperation as he drew a quick explanatory graphic next to the writing in order to clarify the process.

All of a sudden, the edges of the cauldron he had sketched began to stretch to two sides until he recognised that a werewolf was looking at him from the parchment, fletching his teeth. '_A werewolf? Lupin? What the f...?_' Severus fiercely rubbed his eyes, before he closed them, slowly massaged his temples and counted to ten, before he opened his eyes again, realising that the dull ache behind his temples remained as well as the feeling that his eyes were swollen to twice their normal size. However, he noticed with relief that he had not accidentally drawn a wolf onto the student's parchment but that the cauldron looked completely normal.

'_I must be overtired_,' he mused, glancing at the numbers at the ceiling that consisted of a charm displaying the time. '1:88,' he read, letting out an exhausted sigh. '_That explains why I'm so tired and cold. I didn't realise how fast the time passed. I didn't even light the fireplace_,' he thought and decided to go to bed. Still freezing as he entered his bedroom, he changed into his warmest pyjamas and went to bed, sighing in relief as his achy head hit the pillow. However, sleep did not come easily that night. His head hurt too much, and he was still slightly shivering. '_Ah, what am I doing?_' he finally thought. '_I'm not a Potions Master for nothing. I'm going to take a headache potion_.' He got up once more and stepped into his private lab, quickly downing a dose of his extra strong headache potion.

Just as he left the lab on his way back to bed, the fireplace in his living room flared, and Minerva stepped out.

"Severus!"

"Minerva, what brings you here at this time of the night?" Severus queried in surprise.

"You missed dinner in spite of Poppy's instruction to take all the meals in the Great Hall. I decided to check on you before she does."

"Well, she didn't," Severus replied matter-of-factly. "I completely forgot dinner, and I was just heading to bed."

"Severus, are you sick?" Minerva asked in concern, only now realising that he was wearing pyjamas.

"Let me assure you that I am completely fine," Severus drawled, rolling his eyes in annoyance at his older colleague's fuss.

Minerva scoffed in disbelief. "You're completely fine, but you're going to bed at half past seven?" she asked incredulously.

"Half past seven? Minerva, are you all right? It's the middle of the night," Severus replied in surprise, glaring at his former teacher.

Minerva pointed her wand at the wall. "Tempus dictio."

"7:35 p.m." a high, pitchy voice informed them, causing Severus to gasp.

"I'm sure that the clock in my office displayed '1:88'," he said unbelievingly.

"There is no such time as '1:88'," Minerva said worriedly, stepped forward until she came to stand right in front of Severus and slowly extended a hand to feel his forehead.

"I'm fine," Severus growled, slapping down her hand in annoyance.

"Very well then, if you're sure, I need you to accompany to our weekly staff meeting, which also seems to have completely slipped your mind."

Severus stared at his older colleague in shock, groaning inwardly as he wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed. "Very well then, go ahead; I'll be there in ten minutes," he promised and retired to his bedroom, glad when he heard Minerva floo away.

'_I wonder what's wrong with me today_,' he thought, noticing that the headache potion had only helped so much.

Twenty minutes later, Severus was sitting in the staff room, half-heartedly listening to his colleagues' talking, until suddenly something the Headmaster said caught his attention.

"When I was researching a bit about three-headed dogs of Fluffy's kind," Albus glanced at Hagrid, "I found out that whilst it might be harmless to be bitten by the two side heads, the bite of the middle head is extremely poisonous and can lead to a person's death if not treated immediately. I wonder if this is not too dangerous for the curious ones among our students."

"Of course, Albus. We need to apply additional safety precautions to the door," Minerva threw in in determination.

'_The middle head's bit poisonous?_' Severus thought in shock. '_Poison, that's what my problem is_.'

The sudden sounds of Severus falling from his chair caught everyone's attention.

By the time he regained consciousness, he found himself in a white bed in the hospital wing. Poppy was standing at his side, glaring at him.

"Why didn't you tell anyone that the dog bit you, and why didn't you come to me when you were feeling so miserable? Minerva told me what happened in your quarters earlier."

"Don't know. Will I survive it?" With that, he succumbed to the potions the Mediwitch had brewed and spelled into his system.

His features stretched to a small smile as he heard the Healer say, "Yes, but thank God for the meeting and Minerva for fetching you. Sleep well."

**The End**


End file.
